Firefighters were also called out to rescue several stranded motorists who had become trapped in the floodwaters and had to pump out more than 80,000 litres of water from the car park of Organic Farm Foods in Honeybourne to stop the business from being submerged.

Then as the river rose quickly overnight in Evesham, it caused chaos in the town today (Thursday) as Waterside flooded along with low lying areas.

Eckington Bridge was also closed and there were reports of flooding on the A44 near Wood Norton.

Low-lying parts of Pershore have also been hit with several schools closing early.

The River Avon is expected to peak at between 3.5 metres and 3.7 metres today but with more rain forecast to hit the area as it reached its highest level, the worse could yet be to come.

Pershore based forecaster Paul Michaelwaite, who runs the Netweather website, said people needed to keep a close eye on the forecast.

"31.8mm of rain fell in Pershore on Wednesday, which is over half the average monthly rainfall in November," he said.

"We are expecting another ten to 20mm or more today (Thursday) with some torrential bursts and squalls moving through, albeit quite quickly fortunately.

"Saturday and into Sunday uncertain at this time - a low pressure system will push up from the southwest but how far north it will get is the biggest question mark. If it does affect the region then another spell of wet and windy weather is likely but it may just stay a little further south. Definitely one to watch though.

"Flooding wise, river levels are already very high with more rain to come today, so further flooding is likely."

Evesham Rowing Club was also severely hit by the floods with up to nine inches of water in the club's boat house.

Because of the conditions, the club have been forced to cancel their senior head rowing event on Saturday.

This is the third event the rowing club has had to cancel this year to go along with the Junior Head event in October and the Evesham Rowing Regatta.

Club chairman John Lomas told the Observer he could not believe the club's bad luck this year.

"It is unbelievable what we have had to go through this year," he said. "To have had to cancel three events is really unfortunate and I would say we have lost £10,000 in revenue as a result."

To keep up to date with the flooding situation log onto www.environment-agency.gov.uk or for the latest on the severe weather warnings www.metoffice.gov.uk or netweather.tv.